KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The 2020 Major League Baseball regular season is complete, and the postseason is set to begin this afternoon when the Minnesota Twins host the Houston Astros at 2 p.m.
Two former Vols will be competing in the postseason this year. Rookie phenom Garrett Crochet and the Chicago White Sox will take on the Oakland Athletics in the American League Wild Card round while Nick Senzel and the Cincinnati Reds will battle the Atlanta Braves in the National League Wild Card round.
Below are updates on how Crochet, Senzel and other former Vols performed throughout the 2020 regular season.
Crochet has made an immediate impact and has been a force out of the bullpen since being added to the White Sox roster a few weeks ago. The hard-throwing lefty has gotten off to one of the most impressive starts to a major league career in recent memory, allowing just three hits in six shutout innings.
The Mississippi native recorded his first multi-inning performance of the season on Saturday in a 9-5 win over the crosstown rival Cubs, striking out three batters in two shutout innings of relief.
In his six innings pitched this season, 81.2 percent of Crochet’s pitches (69 of 85) had a velocity of 99 mph or faster, which was the highest percentage of 99+ mph pitches by anyone in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008) with a minimum of 50 total pitches. The next highest was 73.3 percent by Henry Rodriguez in 2009.
Chicago enters the postseason as the No. 7 seed in the American League. Game one of the White Six AL Wild Card series against the No. 2 seed Oakland Athletics will be today at 3 p.m. ET on ESPN.
Zack Godley — RHP, Boston Red Sox Season: 8 App, 7 GS, 0-4, 8.16 ERA, 28.2 IP, 42 H, 26 R, 26 ER, 14 BB, 28 K, 1.95 WHIP
Despite a promising start to the year, Godley had a challenging season for a struggling Red Sox team that finished with one of the worst records in baseball. In his most recent outing, Godley have up four runs on five hits in three innings of work in a loss to the Toronto Blue Jays (Sept. 4). He was placed on the 60-day injured list on Sept. 19.
Despite getting off to a slow start, Gomes was able to put together an impressive year at the plate for the Nationals, finishing third on the team in batting average (.284) among players with 16 or more games played.
Gomes finished the year with hits in four of his final five games, including a pair of multi-hit performances. He went 3-for-3 in a 4-3 win over the Mets on Sept. 26 and finished the year by blasting a two-run homer and scoring two runs in a 15-5 drubbing of the Mets on Sunday.
Senzel has struggled since returning from a month-long stint on the injured list. In his nine games since returning from injury, Senzel has recorded just two hits and scored one run.
The Knoxville native will get a chance to wipe the slate clean as the No. 7 seed Reds prepare to take on the No. 2 seed Atlanta Braves in the NL Wild Card. First pitch for game one of the series is slated for noon Wednesday on ESPN.
On July 23, Steckenrider was placed on the 60-day injured list with right triceps tendonitis and has not seen action this season.
The Marlins enter the postseason as the No. 6 seed in the National League and will take on the No. 3 seed Chicago Cubs in the NL Wild Card round. Game one of the series is scheduled to start on Wednesday at 2 p.m. on ABC.
After struggling in August, Stewart had a strong start to the month of September with hits in three straight games, including his third homer of the year in Detroit’s 12-1 win over Milwaukee on Sept. 1. However, Stewart did not record a hit in his next five games before snapping his hitless streak with a single against Kansas City on Sept. 25.
The Journey Home Project, a nonprofit founded by the late Charlie Daniels that supports veterans in their return, rehabilitation and reintegration back into civilian life, will forge ahead as The Charlie Daniels Journey Home Project (TCDJHP).
Charlie, who passed away on July 6, 2020, at age 83, co-founded The Journey Home Project in 2014 with his longtime manager David Corlew and served as its chairman. Charlie’s wife of 55 years, Hazel, has joined TCDJHP as its newest board member.
“Even though Charlie has passed, we will continue his legacy and stay on mission,” says Corlew. “As we all know, the men and women that have and continue to serve our country were so important to him. Our goals are to always support the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Center at MTSU [Middle Tennessee State University], as well as our suicide prevention programs and the process of reintegrating and transitioning these great Americans back to a productive and rewarding life.”
In the coming weeks, the organization is planning to announce this year’s Charlie Daniels Patriot Award recipient. Past recipients include Chris Young, William Horton andJudy Seale.
Over the course of his 60-plus-year career, Charlie received numerous accolades, including induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame (2016) and the Musicians Hall of Fame (2009), as well as becoming a member of the Grand Ole Opry (2008). As the fiddle-playing frontman of the Charlie Daniels Band, Charlie scored a number of Top 20 singles, including “Drinkin’ My Baby Goodbye,” “Boogie Woogie Fiddle Country Blues,” “In America,” and “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” which topped the charts in 1979.
Carrie Underwood released her first-ever Christmas album, My Gift, on Sept. 25.
The 11-song album features a combination of beloved traditional favorites, such as “Mary, Did You Know?” “Silent Night” and “Away in the Manger,” as well as original material, including “Sweet Baby Jesus” and “Let There Be Peace.”
Penned by Mark Lowry and Buddy Greene, “Mary, Did You Know?” has been covered by a who’s who of cross-genre talents over the years, including Kenny Rogers and Wynonna, Pentatonix, Cee Lo Green, Dolly Parton and more.
Listen to Carrie sing “Mary, Did You Know?” below.
Lee Brice scored his eighth No. 1 single as “One of Them Girls” ascended to the top spot on both the Mediabase chart and the Billboard Country Airplay chart this week.
“One of Them Girls” follows Lee’s previous No. 1 single, “Rumors,” which topped the charts in July 2019, and his collaboration with Carly Pearce, “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” which peaked at No. 1 earlier this year.
Lee was inspired to write “One of Them Girls” on Father’s Day in 2019 after a moment of reflection with his family. He penned the song the following morning with Ashley Gorley, Dallas Davidson and Ben Johnson.
“This song was embraced by both fans and radio from the get-go . . . it has flown,” says Lee. “We felt there was something special about it on the night we wrote it and to see how it has resonated is such a blessing and humbling. We are over the moon!”
“One of Them Girls” is the lead single to Lee’s upcoming sixth studio album, Hey World, which drops on Nov. 20.
Singer/songwriter Mac Davis, 78, is “critically ill” following heart surgery, according to a statement on his Instagram page on Sept. 28.
“We are sorry to report that legendary singer/songwriter Mac Davis is critically ill following heart surgery in Nashville. Your love and prayers will be deeply appreciated at this time. #PrayForMacDavis. Thank you, The Davis Family.”
In addition to penning Elvis Presley’s “In the Ghetto,” “Don’t Cry Daddy,” “A Little Less Conversation” and more, Mac charted dozens of his own country tunes in the ’70s and ’80s, including the No. 1 pop hit, “Baby Don’t Get Hooked On Me.” With good looks and a charming manner, Mac was a natural for TV and landed his own variety show, The Mac Davis Show, which ran from 1974 to 1976. He also starred as an actor in a number of films and television shows, including North Dallas Forty and on Broadway’s The Will Rogers Follies.
In 1974, Mac earned the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year award. Mac was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2015, Broadcast Music Inc. honored Mac’s prolific songwriting career with the BMI Icon Award.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt recapped the Vols 31-27, season opening win at South Carolina during his Monday press conference with media via Zoom, but says the team is moving ahead to the next opponent: Missouri. The Vols, who are riding an SEC-leading seven-game win streak, which is third longest in the FBS, welcome the 0-1 Tigers to Neyland Stadium for the home opener on Saturday at noon ET. The game will be broadcast of the SEC Network.
Full Video Transcript Opening statement…
“After watching the ball game, I thought what I said after the game was pretty spot on. When you look at us in all three phases, and I’ll start in the kicking game – I thought there were times in the game that we won the vertical field position, especially on our punt team, punt return and kickoff and kickoff coverage. We had a bad snap on punt, we missed a field goal that if we kicked it straight probably should be blocked. Things that you can’t have happen and we are fortunate that we didn’t get one blocked in the game and it’s something that we really have to address and improve on moving forward. Offensively, I felt like we were a little bit hot and cold. We were very poor on third down. Something that has got to be addressed. We have to be able to finish blocks and have to understand the down and distance as a running back. There were a couple of times that I felt we ran sideways at running back instead of hitting the hole up in there and taking what we got possibly being in third and short instead its third and three, which is a big difference when it comes to third down or the possibility of four-down territory. But we did create explosive plays on offense; there’s times when we moved the ball at will, but we have to make some consistency there. The No. 1 thing – we didn’t turn the football over offensively which is, in my opinion, the reason we won the football game. Defensively, again kind of the same thing. There were a couple of times that I felt like we should have got off the field on third down. Several times, we were a little bit out of place and we have to make the other team beat us and it’s something that we’ve got to improve on this week. If you look at Missouri, just watching the game they played against Alabama they won the second half. I know the game didn’t start off the way they wanted to, but if you watch how they play – they play extremely hard, they were aggressive, they created problems in all three phases so it will be a tremendous challenge for us as we move forward.”
On Darel Middleton and Shawn Shamburger’s availability on Saturday …
“We talked about last week from a standpoint of COVID and everything going on, I just don’t think its fair to the players to put out exactly why they’re not there. Hopefully, if everything works out, we can get these guys back very soon.”
On Bryce Thompson moving to safety …
“Jaylen McCollough didn’t really get to practice, he got cleared and going through getting him back to make sure that everything was okay with him we wanted to go into the game with a plan if we played him to really be in the second half. Kind of the same with Warren Burrell. They both have been in quarantine for quite sometime, just getting the guys back. To move guys around, Bryce is a guy that has been in our system for a couple of years so from a conceptual standpoint, we felt like that was the best thing to do. Theo Jackson is a guy that really can play all the spots and we went into the game trying to play him at STAR. It’s really not what he plays, he’s really more of a safety but just so we had depth in the game and to be able to have answers if somebody got hurt that is the way we decided to go.”
On how much time he and the staff have spent watching the Alabama vs. Missouri tape …
“When we play late games like we did on Saturday night, when we get back it is probably three or four in the morning for our players. We really focused yesterday on cleaning up the last game, making sure that we get all the corrections done from that game trying to fix ourselves before we try working on an opponent. We recruited the rest of the night. We had a walkthrough last night; we are taking today off with our players and we will really focus on the rest of our game plan today.”
On getting extra special teams’ periods in this week …
“I don’t think it’s adding a period or two, it’s about having players available. Your first four practices, you have no specialists there and then maybe 10 out of the next 14 you have over 50 players that are absent. With no spring ball, it’s not like there is any carry-over. Just being able to get the guys back and hopefully through the testing in the next couple of days, we’ll get good results and be able to rep guys in the same spots. Creating a routine and the guys understanding that this is the position that I am and this is what goes into that, is what we need not necessarily more periods.”
On what stood out after re-watching the game…
“I didn’t realize how poor we were during third down, offensively. There were probably three offensive possessions that we had which could have given us the chance to end the game or put some distance between us and them that we didn’t do when we had good field position. We’ve got to do a better job of closing out. Defensively, we have to get more turnovers. We got one turnover during the game. The ball was on the ground with a minute before the half. We had a chance to recover a fumble which would have been huge, and we didn’t.”
On Deandre Johnson’s performance against South Carolina…
“Deandre’s had a really good camp. He’s one of the guys that has not missed a practice. He’s been here every day and it shows. He’s practiced well every day. He’s a guy that’s been in our system for three years. He has some maturity about him, and he’s really worked hard this offseason. He’s got to do it week in and week out. We need him to do that.”
On if there are COVID concerns heading into Week 2…
“No, we have a lot of confidence in our players. I guess maybe because of a spike because of the students coming back in August, we had a lot of guys out. It’s hard to get good at football if you don’t practice. It’s hard to get good chemistry with the team if you don’t practice. With the exception of the guys that didn’t travel, Jaylen McCollough and Warren Burrell, we had almost everybody there. Hopefully we can continue that this week and create some momentum and chemistry. All these phases, from the first game to the second game, is usually when you improve the most. We have lots of areas that we need to improve on.”
On the front line’s performance…
“I feel like we made a lot of errors up front. I felt like our kids played hard, but we didn’t always play smart. We’ve got to do a better job as a coaching staff to put them in a better position to execute. We work hard to do that. I love our players’ attitude. They’re very coachable. The way they reacted on the sideline when things didn’t go our way was great. They didn’t blink. They just kept getting coached and kept trying to find a way. It says a whole lot about them.”
On Paxton Brooks’ performance…
“When Paxton signed here, he was about 6-5 and 157 pounds. He’s worked really hard in the weight room. I think he’s about 195 pounds now. I would have liked him to run over two or three folks on that bad snap and get us that first down. He’s kicked well and we need him to continue to do that.”
On what he thought of the offensive line’s performance and the team’s running game in Saturday’s win…
“We finished blocks, at times, much better than we have in the past. A couple of times, we got beat inside at the tackle position. We need more consistency out of the tackle position, especially in the run game. In the passing game, we’ve got to have a little firmer pocket. I think that contributed some to our missed throws. I do think as a unit, there was improvement there from last year, but it’s not where we want to be at. We’ve got to work hard this week to get it there.”
On the play from Tennessee’s wide receivers against South Carolina…
“We made a couple of really nice plays and a couple of good runs after the catch. We got the ball out on the perimeter. I think we’ve got to block a little better out there. We had a couple of missed assignments, based off alignment, which put us in bad position to get friendly with the quarterback. That’s something that can’t happen. We’ve got to be able to line up properly. There were a couple of passes out there that I thought we needed to bring in. There were a couple of drops that stalled some drives. Every position that we had on Saturday, there was really a lot of good things, but there’s really a whole lot of things that we can improve on and that’s what we’ve got to do this week.”
On Brandon Johnson’s performance on Saturday…
“Brandon made one really, really tough catch down near the sideline. Brandon’s a guy that hasn’t missed any reps during camp. He’s been at every practice. He’s a guy that has some experience to him, being a fifth-year guy who has graduated. It doesn’t surprise me. Brandon can play every position and he’s also a good special team’s player. He’s an instinctive guy and he’s a good leader amongst the group. Anything Brandon does doesn’t surprise me.”
On what he saw out of Jeremy Banks’ play, despite a couple of penalties…
“Getting penalties is how you play. I’ve coached a lot of really good players and Jeremy has a chance to be a really good player, but he’s not going to be a really good player unless he plays penalty-free. You can play aggressively. You can play physically, but you can do it in-between the whistles. It goes back to decision making. I’m sure when the game started Jeremy didn’t say, ‘I want to get two penalties.’ But, he did and that can’t happen. For the first game, I thought he and Quavaris Crouch did some things that were really good. We got messed up a couple of times in coverage, but you’ve got to think about both of these guys. ‘Q’ (Quavaris) played outside linebacker all of last year because we thought it was the best fit for our team. We moved him inside for spring ball and these guys haven’t played a lot of live reps. So, for the first time playing, there was some good and there’s probably some bad from both of them, but they are two guys that we feel like play the same position and we have packages to where we can get those two guys and Henry (To’o To’o) on the field at the same time. We just didn’t think we were ready for that right now. Those guys have a lot of work to do this week. I think you’ll see a lot of improvement out of both of those guys, especially after having a live contest.”
On how he thought the freshman class handled their first-career games…
“I don’t know if it was 11 or 14 of them that played in the game and I don’t even know exactly how many we traveled. But, these guys are going to play more and more of a role as the season goes on. For us, I can’t speak for the other schools in our conference or any other school across the country, but for us, with the circumstances that we’ve had over the last six weeks, when it comes to people being available for practice, has really hurt the freshman class, which is not normal. The fact that half of our team was gone for most of camp, we could only practice two groups. If you were a freshman that fit in that group or you were a third team, it was hard to work your way up to be a first or second team guy. I think over the next couple of weeks, you’re going to see us play more and more of these guys and as our coaching staff gets more comfortable in knowing that these guys know what to do so they can play fast.”
On what the season-opening win says about this group…
“Last year is over with. It’s good that we finished out like we did. We’re 1-0 and the way I look at it, I count all of the games that you play as losses, so I say right now we’re 1-9. That’s until you go earn it and win it. We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got a lot of things that we need to work on, but we’ve got a lot of time to do it. This team, their identity, how they’re going to be remembered, they’ve got nine weeks to decide that. It will be up to them. We’ve got a lot of season left.”
Vols OLB/DE Deandre Johnson / Credit: UT Athletics
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee edge rusher Deandre Johnson picked up the SEC Defensive Lineman of the Week after the Vols’ Week 1, 31-27 win at South Carolina, the conference announced Monday.
As the Vols picked up their seventh consecutive win that dates back to last season, Johnson’s performance spearheaded a UT defense that staved off the pursuant Gamecocks that managed to knot the score on two occasions, before UT ultimately pulled away.
The Miami, Fla., native recorded a game-high 2.5 sacks, tying a career high, 2.5 tackles for loss, a career-best six tackles and forced a fumble as the Vols earned their first win in Columbia, S.C., since 2014. The 2.5 sacks led all SEC players in Week 1 and were the most by a Vol since Darrell Taylor had four against Kentucky on Nov. 10, 2018. Johnson’s forced fumble in the second quarter stalled a Gamecocks drive, while two of his sacks came on third down, including a critical one in the fourth quarter.
The recognition marks Johnson’s first collegiate honor and the 12th occasion a Vol has earned the distinction. The senior has appeared in 32 games for the Orange & White, making four starts.
The Vols (1-0) head into their 2020 home opener on Saturday at noon ET with a matchup against Missouri. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network and tickets remain available at AllVols.com.
COLUMBIA, SC – SEPTEMBER 26, 2020 – Wide receiver Jimmy Holiday #10 of the Tennessee Volunteers during the game between the South Carolina Gamecocks and the Tennessee Volunteers at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, SC. Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Following its 31-27 season-opening victory at South Carolina, Tennessee football comes in at No. 20 in this week’s Amway Coaches poll and No. 21 in the Associated Press Top 25 released on Sunday.
The Volunteers (1-0) extended their winning streak to seven games dating back to Oct. 26 last season against the Gamecocks. That streak is currently the longest in the SEC and the third-longest in the FBS.
Tennessee has been ranked for four consecutive weeks, representing its longest streak since the 2016 season.
Senior edge rusher Deandre Johnson racked up an SEC-best 2.5 sacks on Saturday night as part of a nine tackle for loss effort for the Vols. Senior quarterback Jarrett Guarantano completed 19-of-31 passes for 259 yards and one touchdown. He added a 1-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. It was the first time in his career he threw for a touchdown and rushed for a touchdown in the same game.
The Vols host Missouri (0-1) in their home opener at noon ET Saturday in Neyland Stadium. The contest will be televised by SEC Network and carried on the Vol Network.
Tennessee Volunteers inside linebackers coach Brian Niedermeyer spoke to the Knoxville Quarterback Club on Monday to review the Vols win over the South Carolina Gamecocks. Video courtesy of the Knoxville Quarterback Club.
Vols ILB Coach Brian Niedermeyer / Credit: Knoxville Quarterback Club
Luke Combs will try to score his unprecedented 10th consecutive No. 1 single—to start a career—with the release of “Better Together.” The new tune, which was penned by Luke, Dan Isbell and Randy Montana, will impact country radio on Oct .12.
“I wrote ‘Better Together’ in the mountains of North Carolina about three years ago,” says Luke. “I wrote it with Dan Isbell and Randy Montana. We started it there. I put a little clip of it on my Instagram, maybe a year and a half or two years ago, I’m not exactly sure, but people had always loved it. We ended up recording it and going with, you know, kind of a very stripped-down production of just me and piano. And I couldn’t be happier with the way it turned out.”
The sentimental single finds Luke crooning about complementary classics, “like a cup of coffee and a sunrise,” as references for how he and wife Nicole “just go better together.”
“Better Together” will be the fifth single from Luke’s 2019 No. 1 album, What You See Is What You Get. Luke is the first country artist in history whose nine singles have reached No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart: “Hurricane,” “When It Rains It Pours,” “One Number Away,” “She Got the Best of Me,” “Beautiful Crazy,” “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” “Even Though I’m Leaving,” “Does to Me” and “Lovin’ on You.”
Luke Combs will drop a new deluxe album, What You See Ain’t Always What You Get, on Oct. 23. The new album will feature all 18 songs from Luke’s 2019 sophomore album, What You See Is What You Get, as well as five brand-new tracks: “Cold as You,” “The Other Guy,” “My Kinda Folk,” “Forever After All,” and “Without You,” featuring Amanda Shires.
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